Amy Souders of Easton and her 16-year-old daughter, Britney, got to ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks in Bethlehem at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, 19 1/2 hours before the scheduled start time for a free concert by up-and-coming teen idol Cody Simpson, hoping to get as close to the stage as possible.

Cody Simpson at Musikfest Cafe in BethlehemPhotos by Chris Shipley/Special to The Morning Call

They were among about 500 people – nearly all adolescent and teen girls – who showed up, even though the mini concert, a promotional event of radio station WAEB-FM, B104, was mid-day on a Wednesday.

That shows the drawing power of the tow-headed 16-year-old Australian, whose new album, “Surfer’s Paradise,” debuted in Billboard’s Top 10 this month and who now is on tour with Justin Bieber.

“He’s worth it,” Britney said of the wait for Simpson, citing as reasons “his accent … and his music.”

Simpson, in a gray T-shirt emblazoned with “Surf Australia” and black jeans, rewarded those who waited with a half-hour appearance in which he answered questions fans submitted to the radio station and sang four songs — three from the new album: “Sinkin’ In,” “La Da Dee” and “Pretty Brown Eyes.”

All were slower, with him playing acoustic guitar and displaying a new singer-songwriter vibe more mature than his teen-idol image.

In fact, it might be surprising the show didn’t draw a larger crowd. Simpson recently completed a solo tour that saw him play venues such as the 3,500-capacity Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, with tickets starting at $20.

He’s got 5.3 million Twitter followers and 5.1 million Facebook likes, and previously topped Radio Disney charts with his hits “iYiYi (featuring Flo Rida)” and “On My Mind.” He was nominated for three Radio Disney Awards this spring.

Cody Simpson signs autographs Photo by John J. Moser

Curt Mosel, ArtsQuest vice president of marketing and public relations, said the venue was prepared to hold 1,000 for the show. It had printed tickets to give people as they showed up, and would have immediately turned people away after the tickets were gone so as not to have them wait fruitlessly.

Organizers said the show’s timing, with many people vacationing or working, likely kept the audience below capacity.

B104 Promotions Director Mandy Schnell said the crowd was orderly and well-behaved, aside from the occasional grumbles about standing arrangements in the venue. She said Simpson has been “super accommodating to us at the station,” where he first played in 2010, after a performance at Northampton Area Middle School.

Those who waited for Wednesday’s show said they didn’t mind. Britney Souders said she has waited in line six times to see shows by Simpson and Bieber. She made friends with 7-year-old Leah Hollenbach of Fleetwood, whose father, Ed, brought her to the site 16 hours before the show.

Katherine Mulligan and her daughters Claire, 15, and Grace, 12, of Easton, and friends Julia Pinter of Bethlehem and Nicole Gibbs of Easton, both 15, waited 14 1/2 hours — the third group of people in line — even though Cody Simpson isn’t their favorite.

“He’s really cute and they like his music, but they’re not super fans,” the mother said.

“We like him, but we’re really here for the experience,” Claire said. The group said they were more into the music of Taylor Swift, fun. and Bruno Mars. But they said they ran around the SteelStacks campus, made new friends and had fun, while sleeping very little, or not at all.

“It was a YOLO experience — you only live once,” Nicole said. “That’s kind of our motto.”

Among the questions Simpson answered was that he hasn’t been home to Australia in a year, but is headed back in January. Asked the last show he saw as a spectator, he said it was Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z at Yankee Stadium in New York two weeks ago.

“I’m a big J.T. fan,” Simpson said. “He’s a big inspiration.” He said he’d like to work with Bruno Mars, Jack Johnson – to whose music Simpson’s new songs bear resemblance – and “a good friend of mine, Ed Sheeran.”

Asked whether he had ever been slipped someone’s phone number while talking to them or shaking a hand, Simpson laughed and replied, “Yeah, every day. I usually do meet-and-greets for the shows, and I’ll usually end up with 100 little notes.”

JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.